Fantini Taps into Local Nature with New Piero Lissoni–Designed Headquarters

Fantini's new headquarters, designed by Piero Lissoni.Photo: Courtesy of Fantini

Lake views, sleek, black cabin-style buildings, and monochrome interiors: Sounds more like the listing for a modern nature retreat than a faucet factory, but this is an apt description of Fantini Rubinetti's new Piero Lissoni–designed headquarters on the shores of Lake Orta in northern Italy. For the brand, it's a logical next step in a seven-decade history in the area. “Our story is like poetry,” says Riccardo Conti, managing director of Fantini USA. “We’re very blessed to be located where we are, with the lake and San Giulio Island. Other companies may have beautiful factories, making beautiful products, but everything here is done in a less stressful, calming environment.”

The lakefront property’s existing prewar industrial buildings were transformed by Piero Lissoni’s firm, Lissoni Architettura, successfully juxtaposing the industrial complex against the striking natural beauty of Lake Orta and the surrounding villages. Fantini’s 107,155-square-foot headquarters—which includes a 4,844-square-foot showroom and 40,903-square-foot factory, joined by a covered garden—now blends seamlessly into the landscape with its dark gray color and U-Glass finishes. Fantini’s main office and showroom spaces face the lake, with large glass walls that connect employees and clients to the majestic surroundings. The new positioning also provides substantial expansion opportunity for the production factory, which includes quality control, assembly, testing, and packaging. The redesign of Fantini’s headquarters was part of a series of collaborations with Lissoni, which included casaFantini, an 11-suite hotel on Lake Orta that opened last year, as well as the design of its showroom in Milan.

CasaFantini, a hotel near the headquarters, was also designed by Lissoni.

Photo: Courtesy of Fantini

“We want to believe in the spirit of the lake—what we call genius loci,” explains CEO Daniela Fantini. “We like to think there’s something special here, and that it influences our evergreen products. It’s like a secret ingredient: this place, and the people who work with us.”

Founded nearly three quarters of a century ago, in Pella, Italy, the family-owned company remains one of the most influential faucet and water-fixture design companies in the world. In a region known for the manufacturing and production of water application products, brothers Giovanni and Ersilio Fantini immediately set their firm apart from the competition through inspired form and incredible design collaborations. Its “Calibro” faucet, designed by Davide Mercatali and Paolo Pedrizzetti in 1978, is in the permanent collection of the MoMA. For several decades, the company was often referred to as I Balocchi, the name of its 1977 standout faucet design—also from Mercatali and Pedrizzetti.

The dark gray buildings blend into the surrounding topography while providing striking views from within.

Photo: Courtesy of Fantini

The view from the Fantini offices.

Photo: Courtesy of Fantini

Since its inception in 1946, Fantini has continually moved forward with advancements in technology and design. Today, the company is headed by Daniela Fantini, who took over after her the death of her father, Giovanni, in 1990. Early in her tenure, Fantini introduced several new popular fixtures, including the Mercatali-designed “Girotondo” in 1991 and “Stilo-Sfera” by Franco Sargiani in 1996. “Usually when something arrives suddenly, you’re not ready,” said Fantini. “I lost my father quickly, and although I understood the company was solid, I wasn’t really prepared [to take over].” Around the same time, Mercatali and Pedrizzetti, who’d been an integral to Fantini’s design success, decided to part ways with the brand. “It had been a lucrative partnership,” says Fantini. “ Balocchi and Calibro were such huge successes.” One of Fantini’s first major steps in reshaping the company’s future was a collaboration with Italian modernist artist and designer Enzo Mari. “Fantini is a relatively small company, so you have to imagine this moment, in the early '90s, when we partnered with such an important designer,” she explains.

A conference room in the headquarters.

Photo: Courtesy of Fantini

Nearly 30 years later, she and the brand continue to push the envelope of form and function, as well as ethical responsibility. Fantini has forged design collaborations with world-renowned talent like Sargiani, Silvana Angeletti and Daniele Ruzza, Vincent Van Duysen, and the Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa. Daniela has also spearheaded “100 Fontane: Fantini for Africa”—a self-funded endeavor, started in 2012, to build 100 water fountains across 20 miles in the Masango region of Africa, supplying fresh water for over 30,000 people. In 2013 the company reintroduced the I Balocchi, with proceeds from the sales of the collection funding the project. But as wide as its influence spreads, as the investment in the new headquarters shows, home to Fantini will always be Lake Orta.

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